The search for a girl missing since late 2019 has led investigators to the apartment house where her father and stepmother previously lived, New Hampshire and federal authorities announced on Tuesday.
Harmony Montgomery disappeared in late November or December 2019, when she was 5 years old. The girl was belatedly reported missing in December 2021. Earlier this month, she turned eight.
At the time she went missing, Harmony Montgomery was living with her father, Adam Montgomery, and stepmother, Kayla Montgomery. The husband and wife are since estranged. The girl only lived with them for roughly eight months before vanishing. The February prior, Adam Montgomery gained custody of his daughter for the first time.
“[O]n Tuesday, June 14, 2022, the Manchester Police Department in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies will be at 644 Union Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, for the continued investigation of the disappearance of then 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery in 2019,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release. “644 Union Street is a focus of the investigation as it is a location where Adam and Kayla Montgomery previously lived.”
Harmony Montgomery (L) and Adam Montgomery (R) appear in images released by the Manchester, N.H. Police Department.
Also present at the scene were members of a task force including the U.S. Marshals and an FBI division based out of Boston, Massachusetts.
According to Boston-based ABC affiliate WCVB, FBI agents “in Tyvek suits were seen working on the second floor” of the building.
“I heard an alert on my phone, and I looked at it, and I was just like, ‘Oh my God. They’re somewhere. They have a new lead,’ which is what we always hoped for every day,” Kristin Rosati, a local woman who has taken part in some of the numerous search efforts for the long-missing girl told the TV station.
According to Boston-based independent TV station WHDH, “newly developed” information led authorities to the multi-family unit:
Breaking: newly developed info has brought investigators including FBI’s evidence response team to apartment building on Union Street in Manchester NH this AM in connection with disappearance of Harmony Montgomery..her dad & step mom are facing charges related to the case #7News pic.twitter.com/3dnro6J6tc
— Steve Cooper (@scooperon7) June 14, 2022
“Due to the ongoing investigation, no additional information will be released at this time,” Michael Garrity, the director of communications for the Granite State attorney general’s office, wrote in the press release. “Officials ask the public to respect the privacy of the current residents of 644 Union Street and to stay off of their property as the investigation continues.”
According to Manchester, N.H.-based ABC affiliate WMUR, “[s]ome neighbors [were] displaced to allow for this operation.” Journalist Amy Coveno said those displacements occurred the day before.
Harmony Montgomery (L) and Kayla Montgomery (R), via Manchester, N.H. Police Department.
It is presently unclear if Harmony Montgomery ever lived at the residence in question. In January of this year, police and the FBI searched a different home in Manchester where the girl last lived.
Authorities believe they have currently pin-pointed the likely date of the girl’s disappearance to Nov. 28, 2019 and Dec. 10, 2019.
Adam Montgomery has told investigators that he last saw his daughter when he took her to her mother’s home in Massachusetts around November 2019. The girl’s mother, Crystal Sorey, who gained and lost custody of her daughter on-and-off for several years due to drug abuse issues, says that never happened. She last saw her daughter, she says, during a video call around Easter 2019.
In statements to law enforcement, Kayla Montgomery allegedly said she last saw Harmony Montgomery while getting ready for a work shift one morning that fall. Earlier this month, Kayla Montgomery was charged with perjury for allegedly lying to grand jurors about the location of her job and some aspect of the timeline she provided.
Adam Montgomery and his estranged wife have been brought up on numerous charges since search efforts began this year – including child abuse charges against the father and fraud concerning the girl against the stepmother. None of those charges, however, are technically directly related to the girl’s disappearance.
“We hope this is one step closer to find Harmony and getting her the justice she deserves,” Sorey told WCVB, regarding Tuesday’s search.
[image via screengrab/WMUR]
